Fact of the day

Information is the most powerful weapon.

Monday

Fact N°
1524

A Vietnam vet with no legs completed the 2003 L.A. Marathon in just over seven days.

His name is Bob Weiland, and he used to coach in the National Football League. He lost his legs after stepping on a mortar round meant for tanks in Vietnam, yet at age 57 he not only finished the Los Angeles Marathon (which took him 173 hours and 45 minutes, during which time he only slept for 11 hours), he has also finished the New York Marathon, an Iron Man competition, and in the early 1980s he walked across America on his arms. The challenge took him three years, eight months and six days.

Tuesday

Fact N°
1525

Last year the annual inflation rate in Zimbabwe was estimated at 89,700,000,000,000,000,000,000%.

That's 89.7 sextillion, or 89.7 thousand trillion. What it means is that inflation in Zimbabwe was so grossly out of control that prices were doubling every five days. Inflation can reach these absurd heights when government treasuries start printing a lot of money in an effort to boost the economy -- so much of it that it becomes worth less and less. The interwar years in Germany are a prime example: people were carrying their cash in bags, since at one point the exchange rate with a single U.S. dollar was around one trillion German marks.

Wednesday

Fact N°
1526

Daylight savings time was Benjamin Franklin's idea for conserving candles.

Franklin thought up the idea in 1784 and rather sarcastically recommended it to Parisians to save candle wax. In 1907, an Englishman proposed advancing the clock in the summer, chiefly to be able to golf later in the day, but the notion wasn't implemented until World War I to conserve resources, first in Europe in 1916 and two years later by the U.S. Today there's plenty of debate about its usefulness. Retailers want to extend it because they believe it increases their revenues, while farmers want it abolished for screwing up their schedules.

Thursday

Fact N°
1527

The amount of energy used annually by the world could power one U.S. home for 13 billion years.

According to the Worldwatch Institute, each year global energy use amounts to about 132 trillion kilowatt-hours. Astonishingly, 41% of that global energy is used in the creation of electricity (the burning of fossil fuels to power the grid, for example), and that process is terribly inefficient, since as much as two-thirds of that energy is lost as heat and, therefore, wasted.

Friday

Fact N°
1528

On earth there is likely no more prolific bacterium than Wolbachia.

The bacteria is so pervasive that some experts estimate it infects as much as 70% of all insect species.
It has the incredible ability to replicate quickly once it gets into a host, and can infiltrate their DNA in a matter of weeks, where it can actually change an insect's reproductive organs, turning infected males into females.
It represents a problem for humans because mosquitoes carry it, which can result in dengue fever, a disease that causes rashes, flu-like symptoms and can sometimes be fatal.

Saturday

Fact N°
1529

Herbert Hoover was once known as the "Great Humanitarian."

For a president widely blamed for the Great Depression and as one who seemed utterly indifferent to the widespread suffering of the American people, his international stardom in the early 1920s prior to his presidency is a surprise. During World War I he developed a reputation for phenomenal humanitarian efforts, helping to organize relief efforts for people starving across Europe and even Russia. He was even named the "food czar" in the U.S., urging people to ration their food.

Sunday

Fact N°
1530

Duke is the only team to enter March Madness ranked No. 1 nationally and win the tournament -- twice.

The feat, which requires the team to be ranked No. 1 in at least one national poll, has been accomplished six times, by five different schools: Kentucky in 1978, North Carolina in 1982, UCLA in 1995, Michigan State in 2000, and Duke in both 1992 and 2001.
Naturally those teams earned a No. 1 seed in the tournament, but only North Carolina in 1982 (with Michael Jordan) defeated another No. 1 seed in the championship game, Georgetown (with Patrick Ewing).